Maus
Bigger, heavier and more expensive, that could be the motto of the ironically named "Maus" ("Mouse"). Weighing 188 tons with the thickest armor of the war, the twin 128mm and 75mm guns in its turret could pierce any armor even at very, very long range. However, as slow as it was powerful, it is an easy target for fighter-bombers and any infantry that can get close enough. Without an escort against dual threats, the Maus cannot last long in its "mobile bunker" role. History Hitler's obsession with heavy tanks reached its zenith with the production of the super-heavies. The Maus thus is the perfect example of this idea. What is clear is that the time and energy spent on designing and producing these behemoths wasted a vast amount of precious design and production effort, which Germany could ill afford to spare in the midst of the war. General Heinz Guderian described the Maus as "this gigantic offspring of the fantasy of Hitler and his advisers" which originally started life under the more appropriate codename of Mammut ''(Mammoth). Historically, the Germans completed two Maus prototypes; one was on active duty in the eastern front but never fought in actual combat because of mechanical problems, the crew abandoned the first version and sabotaged it. The second version was meant to be an AA version which also never saw combat however, the testing grounds were captured by the advancing Soviets before they could be put into action, and a single tank was put together from what was left - and placed in the Kubinka Tank Museum shortly thereafter. If it had been deployed, its limited numbers would have limited its success. It would probably have been able to make mincemeat out of the Allies' best tanks, but it would have been vulnerable to air attack and attack from the rear. The Maus was too heavy to travel over most bridges, and was designed to be completely watertight, and was equipped with a snorkel. It would have travelled through the river whilst being powered via a cable by another vehicle, had it needed to cross one. Tactics and Strategy The Maus does in fact have a turret, but it is very slow, and like the Tiger, is very suitable for defense. Its main advantage is not the damage that its 128mm cannon does, even if it does do a great deal, but the fact that the coaxial gun is a 75mm cannon. The 75mm has a shorter range than its main gun but is very effective when faced with many enemies. The Maus is very effective in small numbers as a defensive unit as long as it has support from aerial attack. With recon units offering it a wide field of vision and intergrated with King Tiger, Panther and Jagdpanther units, this is the most powerful tank force in the game - at the price of being far from the fastest. If you are defending against this you should build about two anti tank tanks and maybe a anti tank bunker. Weapons See Also *U.S.A.: T95 Superheavy Tank *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus Wikipedia: Panzer VIII ''Maus] *Wikipedia: Superheavy Tanks Category:Units Category:Armor Category:Super-heavy tanks Category:German Units Category:Prototype